Glossary / Funded Account

Funded Account

Funded account is the account a trader receives after passing a challenge, allowing them to trade the firm’s capital, real or simulated depending on the firm, and earn a share of the profits.

Why it’s the actual product

The challenge fee gets most of the marketing attention, but the funded account is what a trader is actually buying access to. Everything about a firm’s challenge design, its price, its pass rate, its rule strictness, exists to filter who gets to hold one of these accounts, because this is the account the firm is genuinely exposed to.

Simulated capital versus live capital

A funded account being “real” doesn’t always mean your trades are hitting a live market. Many firms run funded accounts on simulated infrastructure internally, mirroring live prices without placing real orders, while still owing the trader a genuine profit split in real money. This distinction matters far less to your payout obligation than it does to how the firm manages its own risk book, but it’s worth knowing which kind of account you actually hold.

What it actually means for you

A funded account is best thought of as a conditional licence to trade the firm’s money under its rules, not ownership of anything. It can be revoked the moment a rule is breached, and it comes with obligations (minimum trading days, consistency requirements, drawdown limits) that a personal live account never would. The rules attached to it, not the headline account size advertised, are what actually determine whether it’s a good deal.